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The
Squamidian Report – May 17 / 25
Online
Versions
Of This And Past Issues Issue
#1199 Nova
Scotia
Sus ****
From Nova Scotia Sus
It was time to take my car in for servicing and a perfect time without interruptions to write my report. Last time I was here at the Honda dealer for servicing my bill became super high as they found more issues with my brakes. So hopefully this time will just be a regular service. Even so the bill will be over $300. I received an email ahead of my appointment offering a $30 discount and made sure they were aware of it. I do love my Honda CRV. This past week we have made some major additions to our greenhouse. It now has 2 slider doors with large windows. That was challenging moving the big door on a dolly to be put in place. We had prepared the openings ahead of time and hoped everything matches up and it did. The wind was blowing harder than needed so that was a bit difficult. We were relieved to get them in place without damages. We also managed to put two more regular size windows in place. Now the front and sides of the greenhouse are finished. The whole length of the greenhouse has a long bed waist height, where we are growing different letuce and spinach for now. We eat so much spinach! Popeye was right ....it makes you stronger!!
Sus ****
From Carol
We went to Niagara Falls for 2 nights last Sunday. I went for our traditional Mother's Day ice cream with Beth and the grandchildren on the Saturday (Nick treated) because both Beth & Nick had other commitments on the Sunday. Niagara Falls is Al's favourite place so when we realized we were free for a couple of days and that the weather was predicted to be beautiful we decided to go at the last moment. The traffic on the QEW was terrible, for close to an hour we never went faster the 10 kl. They had closed 2 lanes for weekend construction but it seems everybody wanted to take their mothers to the Falls for the day. After we checked into our room we walked down to look at the falls. I've never seen it so crowded. There were large family groups, usually with a matriarch at the centre of the group. I heard so many different languages, everyone happy. I loved seeing all the different ethnic groups, all celebrating their mothers. By contrast when we walked down on the Monday we practically had the place to ourselves. We have been there so often but this time we actually found something new to do. On our scenic drive along the river towards Niagara-on-the-Lake we saw a beautiful lilac garden. Never noticed it before, probably never went by during blooming time. Lilacs are my favourite flower (I know they are really a blossom) so I loved wandering among the bushes. The downside to our get away was I still have a lot of problem with food. Both times I tried to eat in a restaurant I ended up getting sick in the bathroom, even though I choose food I can normally handle. This has me rethinking taking a trip east this year. I need more time to learn to live with my condition better. This coming Saturday is Maggie's wedding. Maggie is one of our Squid readers. I don't expect she will be contributing to the 1,200th edition to the Squid as she will hopefully be spending her time romantically with her new husband. Gale & Dave are heading out to take a trip on the Queen Mary to the UK next week. Gale should have something interesting to write for when we come back in September. I hope the rest of you will have a contribution for next week. We need to let Doug know we appreciate him and want this newsletter to continue. Take care. Carol
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From Gary
Hello fellow Squamidians. This is my 3rd attempt at writing and sending this report. I have no clue what happened to the other two. My renovation is coming along slowly. Max did a great job patching the walls and ceiling. Will finish the primer paint tomorrow. Will have to pick out flooring before deciding on wall color. Ceiling, trim and closet interiors will be white. Have to mow the lawn tomorrow for the 3rd time. Sure grows fast this time of year. The apple tree is in full bloom and the lilacs have started to open. My entire backyard smells wonderful. Now that the sun is setting the mosquitoes are coming out. Damn things are the size of chicken hawks. Take care and stay safe everyone. Gary
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From Doug
I’m still playing my guitars, at least to the extent that my old arthritic hands permit and life situations permit. I must admit it is hard at times to feel creative and relaxed enough to want to make music. I have not done any recording at all for quite a while now and that probably won’t change anytime soon. So, no one needs to worry about having to listen to that stuff. And thats not even what this column is about this week. I want to talk about the endless choices of guitar strings and picks. One of the challenges of playing a guitar is trying to find the strings that give you the sound you want. Every guitar sounds different, but no matter what a given instrument sounds like, that sound is effected by the strings you put on it. There are an almost infinite choice in strings so no matter how much experimenting you do with different strings, you will never run out of choices. Different strings give different sounds. Some are mellow, some are sharp and crisp, some are balanced across the highs, mids, and low notes, others bring out one spectrum. And so on. They come in light gauge which gives more of the high end sound and requires less finger pressure, and they come in custom gauges for custom needs. I’m talking about acoustic guitars, not electric which are a whole topic unto themselves. As well, strings come in a medium gauge which is what I use. They bring out the lows as well as being better across the full range according to my ear which will be different from yours. I’m constantly trying different strings on both my guitars. I’ll find a set that gives the sound I’m looking for but might have more overtones than I want. Or I’ll find a set that reduces the overtones but lacks in clarity. And so on. I’m still looking for that ‘perfect’ string set for the Martin. I’m close. Both D’Addario and Ernie Ball make uncoated string that give a sound I like but there is still room for improvement. Uncoated strings tend to have produce less overtones than coated strings. Martin makes it’s own brand of strings but I don’t like them at all, they have way too many overtone sounds which some people like but I don’t. Of course, everything is subjective. I’ve found strings for my Gibson that for now at least I’m quite happy with. They are the D’Addario XT bronze strings that bring out a well balanced sound, minimal overtones, and just enough crispness to give the guitar some life, without any harshness. Oddly, they are just mediocre on the Martin. Different guitars, different results. I’ll give myself a break and stick with the XT’s on the Gibson for the foreseeable future. I’m happy enough with these strings to be able to stop driving myself nuts. And then there are the guitar picks. Thats a whole new level of choices and results and frustration. Picks come in different thicknesses. The thinner the pick, the easier it is to use (well, sort of), but thinner picks produce thinner sounds and you get more pick noise from the strings. You don’t want that noise. As you work your way up in thickness, the sound changes quite remarkably, thicker can give more mellow sounds, more crisp sounds, more accuracy, more volume, all depending on how you use them. You could spend you life experimenting with pick thicknesses. Thicker picks are not as flexible as thin picks and that effects how you play. Thin picks are easier to play with but thick picks give a better sound and better control. I’m currently using 1.14 gauge. I started out years ago using 0.60 and have been slowly working my way up through stiffer gauges. Then, to add to the mix, picks come in different materials, depending on what make they are. Each type of pick material will give a different sound. I gave up on experimenting with different pick makes years ago as there are already enough ways to drive myself crazy without opening that bag of worms. I used to use Dunlop nylon 0.60 picks for years but then about 10 years ago switched to the Cat’s Tongue 0.66 picks. Different material, different sound. Then I started to work my way up in thickness to the where I am now, that 1.14 gauge I mentioned. I’ve been using them now for several years and will stick with them. I probably won’t go any thicker because thicker means stiffer and my playing style requires some degree of cooperation from the pick. Didn’t really mean to bore you but thats all I’ve got for this second to last issue before our summer break. Thank you to everyone who sent something in for this week and lets see what we can do for next week. The
local
rodos are in bloom, as is this one in our back yard. Doug ****
Have
a
Good One ****
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